RockHounds to Cardinals, 10-5

Shawn ShroyerMidland Reporter-Telegram

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, July 14, 2009

By Shawn Shroyer

Sports Writer

While the world's best baseball players met in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis on Tuesday, the RockHounds and Cardinals played one of the least fundamentally sound games in the Texas League this season.

The two clubs combined for eight errors, 12 walks, one hit batter, one wild pitch and one manager ejection. Most of those blunders belonged to the RockHounds, who were coming off Monday's emotional victory.

"You'd like to come out and play a good game," RockHounds manager Darren Bush said. "We just didn't play good baseball."

"You'll take them any way you can get them," Cardinals manager Pop Warner said.

A night after ending a 62-inning stretch without holding a lead, the RockHounds started a new streak right away when Cardinals leadoff man Jim Rapoport hit a home run to right field off Travis Banwart. Rapoport was ahead 2-1 in the count and he said the inside fastball Banwart threw him was what he was expecting.

"You always want to set the tone early, but getting a home run was a bonus," said Rapoport, who was 3 for 4 in the game with three runs and two RBI. "I was looking for something up and he left it up."

From there, the Cardinals added two more runs in the inning without the aid of a single error.

Even after five innings, the game had been relatively well-played. At that point the Cardinals led 4-3, but things went south in a hurry in the top of the sixth.

By then Banwart was long gone, having lasted only four innings, and Bobby Cramer was in his second inning of relief. Without recording an out in the sixth, Cramer departed with the bases loaded thanks in part to the RockHounds' fourth error of the game.

Dewon Day entered in relief of Cramer and his defense committed another error with the first batter he faced to let in the first run of the inning.

While pitching to the next batter, Tony Cruz, Day uncorked a wild pitch that allowed another run. Then Cruz capped off the scoring with a double up the left-field line to drive in two more runs.

"Any time you get extra outs, you need to take advantage of it," Warner said. "Tonight we did, but other teams have sure done it against us this season."

Cruz's hit barely stayed in play as it passed third base and Bush came out of the RockHounds dugout to argue the call.

After taking his complaint up with third base umpire Jeff Gosney, Bush went after home plate umpire Brian Sinclair and was ejected soon thereafter.

Bush's heated debate didn't appear to inject any energy in his team.

Up to that point, the RockHounds managed only three runs, one earned, off Cardinals starter Ryan Kulik (4-6), who entered the game with a 5.28 ERA.

The RockHounds plated two runs in the eighth inning to make the score 9-5, but that was as close as they came to making a game of it after Bush's ejection.

The RockHounds have today off before traveling to San Antonio and after Tuesday's game, Bush said the day off arrived just in time.

"It'll be good for the guys to get away from the field a little bit," Bush said. "Just to be able to clear their minds for a day will help out."

GOING STREAKING: Adrian Cardenas extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a third-inning RBI-single on Tuesday.

MORE ON MONDAY'S VICTORY: While Chris Carter stole the show with his game-winning home run in Monday's 7-6 victory against Springfield, Adrian Cardenas anchored the offense early in the game. Cardenas doubled in the bottom of the first and scored the game's first run on a Josh Donaldson double. Cardenas then hit a two-run home run to right field in the second inning.

"I got lucky on that one," said Cardenas, who was 3-for-5 in the game. "You don't see too many home runs to right with the wind blowing in. The pitcher hung a changeup and I snuck it in the bullpen."

THURSDAY'S PROBABLY PITCHERS: Left-hander Daniel Haigwood (1-1, 5.40) will make his sixth appearance and fourth start today for the RockHounds. He lost his last start, allowing three earned runs on eight hits and a walk in five innings at Springfield.

Haigwood's only appearance against San Antonio this season was in relief in his Double-A debut. He struck out one and walked one in 2/3 of an inning.

Due to Cha-Sung Baek making a rehab start for the Missions on Monday, San Antonio's probable starter has yet to be determined.